March 2017 – Page 3 – Spaceflight Now

Watch Falcon 9 go upright on the launch pad in time lapse video

March 27, 2017 Spaceflight Now

A Falcon 9 rocket is moved into the position for a static test firing of its nine Merlin 1D engines. This time lapse video runs at 20 times normal speed.

Watch space station spacewalk highlights

March 24, 2017 Spaceflight Now

Watch video highlights of a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Friday by Expedition 50 commander Shane Kimbrough of NASA and flight engineer Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency.

Live coverage: Reused Falcon 9 rocket prepared for launch

March 24, 2017 Stephen Clark

Liftoff of a previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket is set for 6:27 p.m. EDT (2227 GMT) Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the first time SpaceX has reused one of its first stage boosters on a second mission. Ground crews face a tight timeline to ready the rocket and the SES 10 communications satellite in time for a Thursday launch attempt.

Q&A with Claire Leon, director of launch enterprise directorate at SMC

March 24, 2017 Stephen Clark

The head of the launch enterprise directorate at the U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center, Claire Leon, spoke with reporters March 15 about the military’s award of a GPS launch contract to SpaceX, and she discussed plans for more head-to-head launch contract competitions in the coming months.

Spacewalkers complete excursion outside International Space Station

March 24, 2017 Stephen Clark

Astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet put on their self-contained spacesuits and headed outside the International Space Station on Friday for a six-and-a-half hour excursion to prepare for the relocation of a docking adapter, service the lab’s Dextre robot, and install a new computer relay box.

Launches from Kourou temporarily suspended by social unrest

March 23, 2017 Stephen Clark

The launch an Ariane 5 rocket with Brazilian and Korean communications satellites that was set for this week has been postponed indefinitely after protesters blocked access to the French Guiana spaceport.

New SLS engine controller tested in hold-down firing

March 23, 2017 Stephen Clark

A shuttle-era RS-25 rocket engine was fired at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi on Thursday in the first test of a new engine control computer that will launch on the first flight of the agency’s Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket as soon as late next year.

Trump signs NASA authorization act, Pence to chair National Space Council

March 23, 2017 Stephen Clark

President Donald Trump signed a new NASA authorization bill Tuesday, the first such space policy framework since early in the Obama administration, that largely continues the space agency’s efforts to foster a commercial economy in Earth orbit and explore deep space, with an eventual goal of landing humans on Mars.

Astronauts gear up for spacewalks, resupply launch delayed

March 23, 2017 William Harwood

NASA is gearing up for an intense few weeks of work aboard the International Space Station, staging three spacewalks, moving a docking port from one module to another to support commercial crew ferry ships and capturing an Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo ship carrying nearly 4 tons of equipment and supplies.

NASA previews trio of ISS space walks

March 23, 2017 Spaceflight Now

Watch NASA’s news conference to preview three spacewalks outside the International Space Station planned for late March and early April to prepare for the future arrival of U.S. commercial crew spacecraft and upgrade station hardware.